2 Samuel 5:2

5:2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. ¹  The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’”

2 Samuel 8:2

8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. ²  The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. ³ 

2 Samuel 15:25

15:25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s sight he will bring me back and enable me to see both it and his dwelling place again.

2 Samuel 16:21

16:21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Have sex with ⁴  your father’s concubines whom he left to care for the palace. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself repulsive to your father. Then your followers will be motivated to support you.” ⁵ 

2 Samuel 19:6

19:6 You seem to love your enemies and hate your friends! For you have as much as declared today that leaders and servants don’t matter to you. I realize now ⁶  that if ⁷  Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, ⁸  it would be all right with you.

2 Samuel 19:22

19:22 But David said, “What do we have in common, ⁹  you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?”

2 Samuel 21:8

21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab ¹⁰  whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

2 Samuel 23:20-21

23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior ¹¹  from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. ¹²  He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day. 23:21 He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. ¹³  The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked ¹⁴  him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

[5:2]  ¹ tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”

[8:2]  ² tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”

[8:2]  ³ tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”

[16:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “go to”; NAB “have (+ sexual NCV) relations with”; TEV “have intercourse with”; NLT “Go and sleep with.”

[16:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

[19:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “today.”

[19:6]  ⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere, 4QSam^a, and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוּ (lu, “if”) rather than MT לֹא (lo’, “not”).

[19:6]  ⁸ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack “today.”

[19:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “what to me and to you.”

[21:8]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.

[23:20]  ¹¹ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading חַיִל (khayil, “valor”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, חַי (khay, “life”).

[23:20]  ¹² tc Heb “the two of Ariel, Moab.” The precise meaning of אריאל is uncertain; some read “warrior.” The present translation assumes that the word is a proper name and that בני, “sons of,” has accidentally dropped from the text by homoioarcton (note the preceding שׁני).

[23:21]  ¹³ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) rather than the Kethib of the MT, אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”).

[23:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he went down to.”